What is Humbleness and Humility?

Quite a while back I wrote a bit about boldness and arrogance.
In this post I’m looking a bit at humbleness and humility.

On the whole, whenever I hear teaching about this subject, the thinking goes along the lines of, “Put others first”. Now this can not be a bad thing in itself, but is there more to this?
Are we meant to do more than just put others first?

We all have different roles to fulfil and as such, some roles are more visible than others.

I’m drawn to…
1 Corinthians 12:21
²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

Now my thinking goes a little bit crazy here. 🙂
What if the head was to say, “I need to be a bit more humble, so therefore I shall take on the role of a foot.” ???

Would this thinking ever go well for the head or the body as a whole???

I don’t think so.
The whole body would have you be turned upside down in order to put the head next to the ground. ???
Or the back would be so twisted that it would cause all sorts of trouble. How long would the face last, being pounded against the ground?
No, the heads rightful place is at the top of the body.

So does this mean that the head is being proud by being at the top of the body?

Clearly not. The head belongs on the top of the body.
The only problem comes if the head starts you think, “I’m at the top, therefore, that makes me better than the rest.”

The head by itself would be useless.
How would it move?
How could it feed itself?
The head needs the body just as much as the body needs the head.

Everything needs to be in it’s proper place, fulfilling the role that it’s meant to, without thinking more or less of itself than it should.

I’ve also heard it said that true humility isn’t just putting others first as this is just putting yourself down, and hence the focus is still on yourself. But that true humility is being aware of who you are in God’s thinking and then fulfilling that role, without thinking more or less of yourself, than you should.

If you are anything like me, then you might like rules and guidelines to show you, how you should be acting. The problems can come when the guidance for one is different to the guidance needed for a different person.
The guidance for the head is going to be different to what the foot needs to hear.
What if the head needs to stand tall so that the eyes can see if there is any trouble ahead. But the foot could be told, stop and stand firm, to allow the trouble to pass us by.
If both instructions are for the good of the body, then both instructions are valid.
Is the important bit, “for the good of the body”?

Now we should not fool ourselves and state, “But this is for the good of the body” and then do whatever we want to.
Our Heavenly Father knows the difference, even if we don’t.
Hence our need to seek Him and His guidance in our lives all the time. If we are seeking Him, then hopefully even when we get it wrong, then He can turn it around for good. He is fully able to.

At this point I feel as though, all I’ve done is walk around in circles and I’m still non the wiser??? 🙂

When all is said and done, can we know who we are in our Heavenly Fathers sight, and then endeavour to be just that?
Are we willing to speak up when He asks us to speak and are we willing to be quiet when He asks us to be quiet?

Father,
You alone are Lord God Almighty.
What You think matters that much more than anything else.
Help us to hear You that much better, so that we can remain in you and where You want us to be, that much better.
Amen.